Two women died and 13 others were injured when the minibus taxi they were travelling in, was hit by a truck on the N4 en route from Malalane. The taxi then, in turn, collided with an oncoming truck.
The Mpumalanga EMS helicopter was called to the accident scene.
The driver of the truck, who was critically injured, had to be airlifted to Rob Ferreira Hospital. According to Netcare911’s media liaison officer, Ms Athlenda Mathe, paramedics and members of the fire department had to extricate him from the vehicle. The truck, which was transporting sugar, overturned after colliding with the taxi.
The 12 other taxi passengers and the driver were also transported to Rob Ferreira Hospital. Two of the passengers were said to have sustained serious injuries.
Mbombela police spokesman, Capt Dawie Pretorius, confirmed that three vehicles had been involved in the accident.
“The taxi wanted to turn right into a small side road when the truck hit it from behind, sending it flying across the road where it hit another truck travelling in the opposite direction,” he said.
“One passenger was flung out of the vehicle and died instantly. The other woman died on the accident scene. Both bodies were taken to the state mortuary and post-mortems will be conducted in due course. The next of kin will need to be informed.”
Hi-Tech’s Mr Jacques Ainslie said all response teams from the area attended to the scene. The incident seriously affected morning traffic to and from Mbombela.
When Nelspruit Post left the scene just before 10:00, traffic was still moving slowly and the road was being cleared of debris.
Pretorius added that two cases of culpable homicide would be opened and investigated.
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